The Obama administration laid out designs Wednesday to issue the first regulations to cut down on methane emissions from new natural gas wells, aiming to curb the discharge of a potent greenhouse gas by roughly half.

A top Republican in the Tennessee General Assembly expects his colleagues to approve the state share of a $300 million incentive package for Volkswagen despite misgivings over a "secret deal" for the United Auto Workers union at the German automaker's plant in Chattanooga.

Michigan's conservative Supreme Court is seeking to reconcile whether 31,000 unionized state employees are covered by a right-to-work law, hearing opposing arguments Tuesday on whether lawmakers stepped on the turf of a panel that regulates labor conditions for those staffers.

U.S. employers advertised the most job openings in nearly 14 years in November, the Labor Department said Tuesday. That suggests businesses are determined to keep adding staff because they are confident strong economic growth will create more demand for their goods and services.

CEO Elon Musk, speaking Tuesday at an automotive conference, said Tesla needs to show a profit, and will when it's selling 500,000 cars per year. He predicted that sales milestone will be reached in 2020, when its lower-cost car — the Model 3 — is in full production.

Mark Rosekind, the U.S. government's new auto safety chief, knew all along that the agency he was taking over lacked resources and staff to do its job properly. Here are his answers to three questions on how he plans to handle his new position.

Just over two decades after lobbying unsuccessfully against the North American Free Trade Agreement, U.S. labor unions are again voicing strong reservations to a proposed major trade-liberalization deal.